TCH southbound lanes closed for an hour after truck crashes into Chemainus bridge

An accident on the Trans Canada Highway’s Chemainus River bridge Monday afternoon closed southbound lanes for more than hour.

Const. Pam Bolton, a spokeswoman for the North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP detachment, said a southbound service truck struck the bridge, located near Mount Sicker Road, causing work tools and debris to be scattered on the highway.

She said the rain and flooding conditions at the time were the likely cause of the accident.

Bolton said the southbound lanes were closed while the materials were removed from the highway, and the structural integrity of the bridge was checked.

“There was a backlog of traffic in the southbound lanes by the time they were reopened after about one hour and 15 minutes,” she said.

“There were no injuries in the single-vehicle accident.”

Making the traffic worse was the fact that flooding closed the intersection of Crofton and Chemainus roads, which would have been the detour route around the crash site.